March 30, 2003
West Lafayette, Ind. - The Purdue men's tennis team picked up its third conference victory of the regular season in a 4-3 win over Wisconsin at the Lafayette Sports Center. The victory improves the Boilermakers' overall record to 9-5 and gives them a 3-1 Big Ten mark.
The start of the match was a disappointment for the Boilermakers, however, as the Badgers stole the first point early on in doubles. Thouth Purdue Lost at the No. 1 and 3 spots, the only doubles victory for the Boilermakers came from the duo of senior Andrew Wakefield and freshman Paul Rose at No.2. The Boilermakers defeated Wisconsin's Scott Green and Mark Weinig 9-8.
Despite losing to the Badger's Blake Baratz and Ward Bortz at No. 3 doubles, freshman Sounak Chatterjee believes that the entire doubles line-up competed with much effort.
"Our team fought hard, Although we got two disappointing losses in doubles, our team fought hard," Chatterjee said. "Our lower line-up has been solid. We competed well yesterday, it was a big match against Indiana State and today we did the same thing by competing well."
With the score 1-0 in favor of the Badgers, Purdue's Scott Mayer stepped up with the first team point at No. 1 singles. The Boilermaker defeated Alex Kasarov 6-1, 6-3, while junior Troy Havens defeated Blake Baratz in a three-set tiebreaker 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 at No. 3. At No. 5 singles, sophomore David Robinson dropped his match to Ward Bortz in a 3-6, 7-5, 10-8 upset.
Purdue coach Tim Madden, a Wisconsin Alum, praised the team for its stellar comeback in a tight contest.
"I give Wisconsin a lot of credit for coming after us in doubles and it got our attention real quick," Madden said. "There was a point in time in the singles matches where I felt we had the mental edge and Wisconsin was folding under pressure and I give our guys a lot of credit for creating that pressure."
Other Purdue victories came from Rose at No. 4 singles and from freshman Colin Foster at No. 6 singles. Rose defeated Scott Green 7-5, 6-4, while teammate Foster won his match 6-3, 6-1 against Jeremiah Fuller.
Madden also showed praise for Foster's performance today against his opponent.
"He has been on a mission in practice to make sure he is ready to go and try to secure his place in the line-up," Madden said. "Today was a step in the right direction, he dominated his opponent."
With one match remaining, it was up to senior Andrew Wakefield to close out the match with a win. Unfortunately, the Boilermaker lost to his Wisconsin opponent at No. 2 singles. Indiana State's Dave Hippee defeated Wakefield in a 10-point tiebreaker 7-6, 4-6, 10-6.
The Boilermakers will travel to University Park, Pa., on April 5 to take on Penn State, then will travel to play the Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio on April 6. Both matches are scheduled to begin at noon ET.
-P-